What is corrosion? And how can it be removed?

Corrosion can be defined as deterioration of metal as a result of a chemical reaction with factors from the environment. This reaction can be caused by various factors, which is why many different types of corrosion can be distinguished. One of the best known forms of corrosion is rust. A brown layer forms on the metal as a result of a chemical reaction between oxygen and damp. Both terms – corrosion and rust – are often used interchangeably. However, the use of both terms is incorrect. Whereas corrosion can be defined as the umbrella term for the deterioration of metal, rust is only one example of this. And although rust is indeed one of the best known forms of corrosion, other forms of corrosion can also be distinguished. But which other forms of corrosion do we know? And how can you best remove corrosion?

Types of corrosion

As said, there are several types of corrosion. Corrosion is caused by a chemical reaction between different factors. In case of rust this is oxygen and damp, but corrosion can also be caused by acid, electrical tension or bacteria. We can differentiate the following ten different types of corrosion:

Oxygen corrosion
Uniform corrosion
Acid corrosion
Galvanic corrosion
Stress corrosion cracking
Stray current corrosion
Pothole corrosion
Crevice corrosion
Intercrystalline corrosion
Microbacterial corrosion

Would you like to know more about corrosion and its origins? Then read more about the different types of corrosion.

Removing corrosion

There are several ways to remove corrosion. Traditionally, this was mainly done by abrasive blasting. With this method of surface preparation, an abrasive is applied to the surface at high pressure in combination with air, which removes corrosion, but also other dirt such as mill scale and coatings. A well-known example of abrasive blasting is sandblasting. Over time, however, several disadvantages of blasting came to light. For example, several dangers of sandblasting were discovered, and blasting is also a time-consuming and expensive activity.

With the Bristle Blaster® and MBX®, MontiPower offers the revolutionary techniques in the field of surface preparation. The electrically driven tools are easy to operate and have a very fast and effective operation. The Bristle Blaster® and MBX® are characterized by a rotating brush with patented curved brush tips. These brush tips not only ensure effective corrosion removal, but also create a surface profile that can be used as an adhesion layer for a new coating. This makes the Bristle Blaster® and MBX® the perfect alternative to sandblasting and other abrasive blasting techniques.

Frits Doddema

Author of MontiPower®

Leadership | Sales | Marketing | Development

Frits is passionate about game-changing alternate products which contribute to a more sustainable world. Passively he invest in various concepts ranging from fashion glasses, hotelsahead, real estate, corrosion-resistant packaging, and in a social network software firm, and actively he devote his days to proteft steel against corrosion. He does have a 20 years trackrecord in sales, marketing, development and manufacturing of problem solving corrosion problems ranging from start-ups, scale-ups and for stockquoted corporations as CEO. The area is pipe welding, surface preparation, coating, sealing, rust passivation, insulation, inspection, testing and corrosion monitoring is my place. Fearless, as a team he enjoys changing smaller operations into larger professional companies.

During his life he has been fortunate to work with and learn from self-made entrepreneurs like Mr. Van Riemsdijk of Asito, or Frans Nooren of Stopaq, John Rich of Berry Plastics. All what is takes is to make the impossible possible. For this, a vision, mission and the right approach is needed in order to stand out versus competition. Without competition you can't win. Focus, discipline and teamwork creates our succes and joy. It binds us and makes us proudly different.